


love it if we made it

by mingyas



Category: Voltron - Fandom, Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Lance deserves better, i just wanna explore their dynamics back on earth, keith needs love, shiro is human and we love him so much, the garrison flashback ep killed me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-21
Updated: 2018-07-21
Packaged: 2019-06-14 03:31:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15379725
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mingyas/pseuds/mingyas
Summary: the journey back to earth is a long one.aka in which lance realizes that the legends he's created for himself in his mind are just regular people.(edits have been made!)





	love it if we made it

"Hey," Keith says softly. "None of this is your fault."

"Keith, I  _saw_ him in the astral plane. I could've done something."

He presses his shoulders further into the cold, metallic paws of Red, his palms digging deeper into his sides. Lance doesn't notice the harsh way Keith shoves his bangs out of his eyes as he sits down next to him, his armored fingers settling into the ground. He does notice, however, the huge scar forming on the paladin's right cheekbone. Keith's jet-black hair threatens to drown out the wound, and it's gotten  _so much longer-_

Lance tears his gaze away, focusing it on the horizon. 

"He called out to me for help, and I _left him there,_ " he continues. _"_ What kind of person... what kind of _friend_ does that?" 

"I wish I could've been there, Lance-"

"No, no! You were with the Blade, it's not your fault at all, God, I-I shouldn't have even said anything..."

" _Lance."_ Keith's exhausted tone immediately cuts though his nerves, and Lance's rapid-fire heartbeat immediately slows. He still has that effect on him. 

"I should've been there with you guys."

Keith's eyes fall to Red, and Lance doesn't have to follow his gaze to know that he's looking at the cryo-pod.

"With Shiro."

"You've always protected him from everything, ever since the Garrison," Lance says aloud to the stars, his gaze falling onto the faint outline of a distant planet. "I remember when you punched that kid in that flight simulator for talking shit." He hears Keith laugh softly, a warm sound against the chilly air.

" _No problem,_ " Lance mocks, grinning to himself. "You must've thought you were _so cool._ Whoa, hey-" he sneaks a glance at Keith, whose smile has now shifted into its familiar glower,"-Don't get me wrong, he definitely deserved it."

He remembers talking to Hunk about it after class, the duo sneaking out just to catch a glance of the infamous glare and jet-black hair. Now, he can't even bring himself to look at the older boy. 

It was so much easier to talk to him months ago, when Keith could still fit his ridiculous jacket and scowls. Now, he's just older, better-looking, and... _stronger_. 

"Anyways, you've always got Shiro's back." 

The unspoken truth hangs in the air.

_Unlike me._

"That's not true."

Hell, even his  _voice_ sounded different. 

"On the planet where Haggar...  _took_ him, he tried to kill me." Keith bites his lip. "I went all _Galra_ on him, Lance. I tried to _hurt_ him."

"It wasn't him.  _Keith-_ " 

"I knew he wasn't himself. I knew that I had brought him back to the team, I just wanted him to be all right, I-I just wanted him _back."_

"And you've got him," Lance says firmly, tilting his head towards the cryopod. "He's back with us."

"But at what cost? Lance, he tried to blow up the Castle of Lions, he t-tried to-"

"None of that is your fault, you hear me? You couldn't have predicted that. Shiro left for Kerberos, and we thought that we'd lost him. But you never gave up hope."

"Shiro taught me how to properly fight when I was little. Told me to never give up on myself and give into that anger, no matter what. I thought I had it under control, that I could just take him down normally, but-" Keith looks at his body in disgust. "I couldn't even do that." 

He shifts closer to his friend, closing his eyes as he feels the familiar comfort of Red's quintessence. 

"Keith, I remember when Iverson tried to talk you down and you fought him, no fear of the consequences. It didn't matter that he was our commanding officer, to you he was no different than that jerk in the simulator. Why? Because Shiro meant everything to you, and you loved him. And everything you've ever done, regardless of Zarkon or Haggar, it's- it's because you _love_ him still."

He would never understand it. As much as he tried to avoid it, Keith was a natural leader. He fought without question to protect what he believed in, no matter the odds. Even if he got in trouble. Even if it nearly cost him his life. 

What did Lance do? Run. Sure, he'd saved people, but it was always spur-of-the-moment, and it's not like he did it to be the hero. Allura won't even look at him. Keith won't even tell him what happened the night he saved Coran. 

Yeah, running into the line of fire was his thing. Seemed to be the only thing he was good for.

 _You found me_. Shiro's words, his longing gaze at Keith... it was all the truth. Keith _had_ found him. In the middle of an alien war, _Keith had found Shiro._ It didn't matter if they were bickering pre-teens at the Garrison or Paladins... Keith always had the ability in him that Lance didn't. 

"I would've given anything to be like you. Galra and all."

"Lance," Keith murmurs, his voice hollow. "You are worth more than all of the stars in the universe."

"Damn it, mullet, that's supposed to be my line-"

"I mean it." 

Red purrs, suddenly, and Lance struggles to fight the blush creeping up his cheeks. Keith might've been away for awhile, but there's no way he hadn't felt  _that._

"That night. When you saved Coran. And Pidge." Keith smiles softly before looking up at him. "And me. You always tend to do that, putting yourself in harms way as if you don't matter. Don't you know that you do?"

"And as for Shiro..." he pauses with a painful sigh, and Lance wills Red to just... _help him, please._  

"Shiro-" Keith's voice trembles slightly, pulling his arms into himself. "I didn't protect him. Shiro died, Lance. When he left-"

A second of devastating silence passes between them. Lance gently places his hands next to Keith's, close enough to touch. Keith doesn't need to look at him to know that he's here. 

"He was...  _sick,_ already. He told me before he left for Kerberos, and I... I  _let him_ anyways," Keith chokes out, his voice raw. "I let the only person who I let into my life leave, and he..." 

"Keith-"

"Sometimes I think it's just... something about _me_. Why everyone leaves. It's why I stayed with the Blade for so long, because life doesn't matter to them." Keith sighs. "Thought I'd fit right in. Then I found my mom, and..." he looks away from the other boy suddenly, and Lance can see the tears in his eyes.

"She didn't know what happened to Dad. Lance, she didn't  _know._ She just saw... my memories of him." Keith runs his gloved fingers through his hair, his gaze falling to the floor. "And I'll never be like you all, with perfect families waiting at home."

"Bullshit." 

"It's true-"

"Keith, listen to me."

The paladin looks up at him, and suddenly Lance doesn't see a stranger. A young boy is looking up at him, and Lance lets out a soft exhale. This is the Keith he remembers starting a rivalry with, the Keith with bandages and bruises who fought bullies. Keith, his leader, his friend, the boy who countered him in every argument yet complimented him on the battlefield. 

His Keith. 

"You've got... us," Lance gestures at himself with a small smile. "You have a family. A huge family, filled with aliens and fighters and people who  _love you_ , Keith. Yeah, a lot of messed up shit happened before that but it  _was not_ your fault. You hear me?"

"Y-yeah," Keith admits with a grin. "I hear you." 

"None of us asked for this war to happen. But without it, our lives would've been so, so different. Who knows where we would be?" Lance grins. "I can't even picture it, and I'm finding that I don't even _want_ to. The universe may be ours to defend, but it's given us each other in return... and I don't think that's half-bad."


End file.
